Domestic Soccer 2011

[AJM]

Charlie Davies is officially a member of the Black and Red!

Great signing for DC...he looked fit in practices/scrimmages online.

[BrySmalls]

Charlie Davies is officially a member of the Black and Red!

Great signing for DC...he looked fit in practices/scrimmages online.

Now if DCU can only find a durable keeper....

[Don]

Charlie Davies is officially a member of the Black and Red!

Great signing for DC...he looked fit in practices/scrimmages online.

Now if DCU can only find a durable keeper....

I'm pretty hyped for DC this year. I'm not worried about Hamid once he gets fully fit. Defense should be alright, if not they got options. We definitely wont be a historically inept offense again this year.

[BrySmalls]

Charlie Davies is officially a member of the Black and Red!

Great signing for DC...he looked fit in practices/scrimmages online.

Now if DCU can only find a durable keeper....

I'm pretty hyped for DC this year. I'm not worried about Hamid once he gets fully fit. Defense should be alright, if not they got options. We definitely wont be a historically inept offense again this year.

Onstad to the rescue!

[TFoA]

Charlie Davies is officially a member of the Black and Red!

Great signing for DC...he looked fit in practices/scrimmages online.

Now if DCU can only find a durable keeper....

I'm pretty hyped for DC this year. I'm not worried about Hamid once he gets fully fit. Defense should be alright, if not they got options. We definitely wont be a historically inept offense again this year.

Onstad to the rescue!

Now wait a damn minute here, did Onstad just pull a Favre on the Dynamo?

[Don]

Charlie Davies is officially a member of the Black and Red!

Great signing for DC...he looked fit in practices/scrimmages online.

Now if DCU can only find a durable keeper....

I'm pretty hyped for DC this year. I'm not worried about Hamid once he gets fully fit. Defense should be alright, if not they got options. We definitely wont be a historically inept offense again this year.

Onstad to the rescue!

Now wait a damn minute here, did Onstad just pull a Favre on the Dynamo?

Technically not, he was an assistant coach for DC, emergency needs brought him back to the field. Once Hamid fully recovers, we should be good to go.

[Jarred Revolver]

Just purchased my tickets for the Whitecaps home opener vs. Toronto FC! SO STOKED!!

[OMMF]

New playoff format:

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/mls-reveals-expanded-playoffs-structure-2011?ref=nf

NEW YORK ? Major League Soccer unveiled its long-awaited revamped postseason structure for the 2011 season on Wednesday, giving 10 teams the chance to vie for MLS Cup in a unique twist on the league?s format from the last two seasons.

The league?s new structure will include the top three seeds from each conference and four wild card berths ? regardless of conference affiliation ? but the postseason will now include two play-in games for those wild card teams.

[BrySmalls]

MLS really needs to stop shuffling the deck chairs on their "Playoff Format". What's wrong with taking the top four clubs from each Conference and having a structured Playoff Format?

For example:

Semifinal:

Seed #1 vs. Seed #4

Seed #2 vs. Seed #3

Conference Final:

Highest Remaining Seed @ Lowest Remaining Seed - Victor to MLS Cup Final.

Also, I found this portion of the linked article interesting:

Rodriguez said keeping conference consistency was crucial for the league in the new postseason format.

“We’ve eliminated the possibility of having two out-of-conference teams competing for a conference championship,” Rodriguez said. “And we’ve decreased the likelihood of an out-of-conference team winning an out-of-conference championship.

“In the end, we took the course that rewarding regular-season performance and pitting the No. 1 seed against the worst advancing wild card was more important.”

Rodriguez admitted that there are factors beyond the league’s control that could create criticism with the new structure, including the Supporters’ Shield winner facing a long travel haul while playing a cross-conference game in the opening leg of the conference semifinals.

Seems the League was none too pleased with the past three finals (Columbus - Red Bull New York, Real Salt Lake - Los Angeles, and Colorado - FC Dallas), whether they will ever admit it or not.

Just for :censored:s and giggles, here's hoping for a fourth straight year of two Conference Clubs facing each other in the MLS Cup Final.

[DustDevil61]

Well, it's supposed to be a pretty good team that Real Salt Lake has this year. I'm still hoping for another RSL/LA Galaxy matchup in the playoffs, either way.

[bosrs1]

MLS really needs to stop shuffling the deck chairs on their "Playoff Format". What's wrong with taking the top four clubs from each Conference and having a structured Playoff Format?

For example:

Semifinal:

Seed #1 vs. Seed #4

Seed #2 vs. Seed #3

Conference Final:

Highest Remaining Seed @ Lowest Remaining Seed - Victor to MLS Cup Final.

Also, I found this portion of the linked article interesting:

Rodriguez said keeping conference consistency was crucial for the league in the new postseason format.

?We?ve eliminated the possibility of having two out-of-conference teams competing for a conference championship,? Rodriguez said. ?And we?ve decreased the likelihood of an out-of-conference team winning an out-of-conference championship.

?In the end, we took the course that rewarding regular-season performance and pitting the No. 1 seed against the worst advancing wild card was more important.?

Rodriguez admitted that there are factors beyond the league?s control that could create criticism with the new structure, including the Supporters? Shield winner facing a long travel haul while playing a cross-conference game in the opening leg of the conference semifinals.

Seems the League was none too pleased with the past three finals (Columbus - Red Bull New York, Real Salt Lake - Los Angeles, and Colorado - FC Dallas), whether they will ever admit it or not.

Just for :censored:s and giggles, here's hoping for a fourth straight year of two Conference Clubs facing each other in the MLS Cup Final.

Can't say I like the new playoff format. Far too many of the teams are now making the playoffs (over half the league). It really does cheapen the regular season to a large degree.

[Don]

MLS really needs to stop shuffling the deck chairs on their "Playoff Format". What's wrong with taking the top four clubs from each Conference and having a structured Playoff Format?

For example:

Semifinal:

Seed #1 vs. Seed #4

Seed #2 vs. Seed #3

Conference Final:

Highest Remaining Seed @ Lowest Remaining Seed - Victor to MLS Cup Final.

Also, I found this portion of the linked article interesting:

Rodriguez said keeping conference consistency was crucial for the league in the new postseason format.

“We’ve eliminated the possibility of having two out-of-conference teams competing for a conference championship,” Rodriguez said. “And we’ve decreased the likelihood of an out-of-conference team winning an out-of-conference championship.

“In the end, we took the course that rewarding regular-season performance and pitting the No. 1 seed against the worst advancing wild card was more important.”

Rodriguez admitted that there are factors beyond the league’s control that could create criticism with the new structure, including the Supporters’ Shield winner facing a long travel haul while playing a cross-conference game in the opening leg of the conference semifinals.

Seems the League was none too pleased with the past three finals (Columbus - Red Bull New York, Real Salt Lake - Los Angeles, and Colorado - FC Dallas), whether they will ever admit it or not.

Just for :censored:s and giggles, here's hoping for a fourth straight year of two Conference Clubs facing each other in the MLS Cup Final.

Can't say I like the new playoff format. Far too many of the teams are now making the playoffs (over half the league). It really does cheapen the regular season to a large degree.

Say, are you a fan of the NHL? Or the NBA?

[BrySmalls]

Not sure if your post was directed at me, but I'm a fan of the NHL.

[Don]

No, it wasnt. I was just remarking at the fact that people will inevitably think that this cheapens the regular season when in both the NBA and NHL, more than half the teams in the league make the playoffs.

[-kj]

I still don't like expanding it to ten teams, and I still don't like that the conference finals are single games.

[TFoA]

Not a fan of adding more teams to the playoffs, even it it is just a glorified play-in game on both sides.

Then again, I'm not a fan of conferences for this league in the first place, so there's that.

[Jer15]

Not a fan of adding more teams to the playoffs, even it it is just a glorified play-in game on both sides.

Then again, I'm not a fan of conferences for this league in the first place, so there's that.

Seems to me that the gimmicks like conferences and playoffs should be something MLS should slowly move away from and not get deeper into.

In my dream world, because MLS will always insist on a playoff, I want to see MLS go single table, and have half-season "champions". Those 2 playoff against each other for the MLS cup. Done.

[Lee.]

^^^^

Why reward a team that goes great guns in the first half of the season to potentially suck it up in the second half?

[crashcarson15]

Here's my system. Top 2 in each conference play for the Conference titles, then the winners play for the MLS Cup.

Or better yet, just the top team from each conference play for the MLS Cup.

[bosrs1]

No, it wasnt. I was just remarking at the fact that people will inevitably think that this cheapens the regular season when in both the NBA and NHL, more than half the teams in the league make the playoffs.

I am a fan of both of those, and I think those league's playoff formats cheapen them as well. One of the reasons I'm against MLB instituting an expanded wild card as well.